While a solo outing for the Jade Giant doesn’t appear to be any closer to happening, Mark Ruffalo is at least going to get the chance to reprise the role of The Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok. While the actor has yet to read the movie’s script, he continues to drop intriguing new details about what we should expect when the Green Goliath and the God of Thunder team up.
Despite the fact that some fans believed that The Hulk would already be in outer space when Thor: Ragnarok begins, it sounds like things will instead pick up almost right after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron:
“He’s on the run. I think that we carry that through. It’s not just a matter of taking himself to some remote place and hiding. Now he’s removing himself from humanity altogether. I’m not sure where we’re going to head with that, but I’m sure that’s probably still very much alive within him.”
Judging by Ruffalo’s comments, it seems we’ll be getting a very different kind of Hulk, one who is more intelligent than we’ve seen in that past:
“It’s very subtle, but the Banner/Hulk consciousness is beginning to meld a little bit. Who decided to leave? Was it Banner or Hulk? It’s not really in the [cinematic] mythology of Hulk up until that moment to be that conscious and pro-active. It’s interesting, right? I think it [will be fun]. I think it’s really exciting where we could go with it. Now I feel like we’re kind of in No Man’s Land. I mean, the comic books have kind of broached the subject, but we’re moving away from the traditional Hulk/Banner relationship. We’re starting to mess with it a little bit. Now we’re going to see how far we can push the limits of it before people get sick of it!”
If The Hulk is indeed going to be a co-star in Thor: Ragnarok, then it will obviously help if he’s a little more intelligent and at least capable of stringing a few sentences together, and it sounds like that might be where things are going.
The comic books have been playing with The Hulk’s intelligence levels for years, with Banner sometimes being portrayed as being totally in control when he goes green. While we may still be a little way off from seeing that happening, Marvel clearly has some very interesting plans for the character which will kick off in Thor: Ragnarok, regardless of whether or not a solo movie ever becomes a reality.
